NEWTON, Mass., Jan. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- SeatGuru®, the ultimate online guide to air travel, today revealed several site enhancements that further help flyers find the best seats and flights. The iconic color-coded airline seat maps have been updated with a fresh look, a more intuitive layout, and additional content such as user submitted photos. Furthermore, travelers can now shop for flights and quickly identify itineraries that offer the best onboard experience with the new "Guru Factor" rating system.

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For more than 10 years, SeatGuru has been the leading resource for frequent flyers and savvy travelers looking for unbiased seat map information and advice along with details on aircraft amenities.  The new site builds on that content and was designed with features to elevate the user experience including:

• Live Flight Shopping - Leveraging the powerful TripAdvisor flight comparison search engine, SeatGuru can now help travelers find the lowest available fares on hundreds of flights, and show those that score highest on seating comfort and onboard amenities.  
• User Provided Photos - Flyers can now view photos of individual aircraft seats along with the associated commentary and amenity information, helping to avoid any unpleasant surprises once they board their flights. SeatGuru users also have the ability to easily upload their own seat photos.
• Featured User Comment - Along with SeatGuru's existing advice and curated recommendations on seats, the site will also show selected comments from travelers on the new seat map pages to help travelers make an informed decision when choosing a seat.
• Improved navigation - SeatGuru has made it easier to look up the seat map for your flight with improved search functionality by route or flight number and better aircraft matching logic.  Along with the ability to browse a directory or airlines and aircraft, the new site also makes it easier to quickly scan the seating details for every aircraft.
• Guru Factor - the new flight search tool includes the Guru Factor which offers detailed seat comfort and onboard amenity information along with a overall recommendation of either "Love it," "Like it," or "Live with it" for your flight itinerary. The Guru Factor is customized by each cabin class and is comprised of an overall comfort score based on the type of seat, seat pitch, width, and recline, in-flight entertainment options, onboard amenities, and TripAdvisor customer satisfaction ratings for airlines.

In the coming weeks, SeatGuru's iPhone app will also carry the new seat map design and improved navigation. Travelers will have the ability to create a profile and easily submit comments and photos of their seat while on the go.

"The new SeatGuru will give millions of flyers even more useful insight to help them plan and have the best flight experience possible," said Bryan Saltzburg, general manager of TripAdvisor Flights and SeatGuru. "Access to our comprehensive seat and airline amenity information, new flight shopping functionality, purchase options, and trustworthy advice from fellow travelers will be infinitely valuable for those planning their next flight."

For more information, please visit SeatGuru's re-launched site at www.SeatGuru.com, or download the mobile app for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android via www.SeatGuru.com/mobileapps.

About SeatGuru
SeatGuru (www.seatguru.com) is the Internet's most comprehensive resource for airline information, incorporating 45,000+ flyer reviews on airline seats, services, and amenities, as well as providing useful travel trips. SeatGuru offers more than 700 airline seat maps covering nearly 100 airlines so that travelers can find the best seats before they fly. SeatGuru is part of TripAdvisor, Inc.

About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel site,* enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 60 million unique monthly visitors*, and over 75 million reviews and opinions. The sites operate in 30 countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.

TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) manages and operates websites under 19 other travel media brands, and together the sites attract more than 74 million unique monthly visitors.** TripAdvisor, Inc.'s travel media brands include www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.onetime.com, www.seatguru.com, www.sniqueaway.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travel-library.com, www.travelpod.com, www.virtualtourist.com, www.whereivebeen.com, and www.kuxun.cn.

*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, Worldwide, July 2012

**Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor, Inc. and its subsidiaries, Worldwide, July 2012

©2013 TripAdvisor, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE TripAdvisor